The air conditioning apparatus is configured by connecting an outdoor unit equipped with a compressor with a plurality of indoor units and is operated such that a suction air temperature of each indoor unit reaches a set temperature that is set for each indoor unit. In such an air conditioning apparatus, although there is known the one that performs capacity control of the compressor conforming to an air conditioning load, when the air conditioning capability becomes excessive due to mismatching with the air conditioning load and so forth, it enters a start-stop state that operation and stop of the compressor are repeated.
Specifically, when the suction air temperature in each indoor unit is lowered and reaches a thermo-off temperature that is determined in accordance with the set temperature, for example, at the time of cooling operation, a corresponding indoor unit shifts from a thermo-on operation for performing an air conditioning operation to a thermo-off operation for stopping the air conditioning operation. Then, when the suction air temperature is raised by an indoor load and reaches a thermo-on temperature that is determined in accordance with the set temperature, the corresponding indoor unit shifts again to the thermo-on operation to lower the room temperature.
In such an air conditioning apparatus, it is necessary to stop the compressor in a case where all of the indoor units have entered the thermo-off operation and thereafter to restart the compressor when any of the indoor units shifts to the thermo-on operation. When the operation and stop of the compressor are repeated in this way, the power consumption is increased associated with start-stop of the compressor and the operation efficiency is lowered.
For such a problem, in Patent Literature 1, in reaction to that timings that the plurality of indoor units enter the thermo-off operation are liable to synchronize with one another, in particular, in a case where a plurality of the indoor units have been installed in a large space and in a case where the air conditioning loads in respective rooms coincide with one another, indoor thermo-timing changing control for changing a thermo-temperature width of any of the plurality of indoor units is performed. An indoor unit that is different from other indoor units in timing that it is made indoor thermo-off/indoor thermo-on is positively produced so as to continue the operation of at least one indoor unit in the plurality of indoor units by such control.